B 466-20 Praśnavyākaraṇa
Manuscript culture infobox
Filmed in: B 466/20
Title: Praśnavyākaraṇa
Dimensions: 27.5 x 12 cm x 73 folios
Material: paper?
Condition: damaged
Scripts: Devanagari
Languages: Sanskrit
Subjects: Vyākaraṇa
Date:
Acc No.: NAK 5/1462
Remarks:
Reel No. B 466/20
Title Praśnavyākaraṇa
Remarks with a Sanskrit commentary by a jīvabhogin
Subject Jaināgama
Language Prakrit and Sanskrit
Text Features The available version of the Praśnavyākaraṇa, the tenth Aṅga of the Jain canon, deals with five sins (āsravas) and their consequences (saṃvaras). But the Sthānāṅga- and Samavāyāṅgasūtra, the third and fourth Aṅgas of the canon, are not aware of this version. As they describe, the tenth Aṅga deals with vidyās and mantras and it has to do with questioning, as the title is suggesting. The Nandisūtra gives the same as the contents of the tenth Aṅga. It is sure, therefore, that the above three sūtras had an older version of the Praśnavyākaraṇa before them. Quite early Weber has noticed this fact and drawn the conclusion that the original text which the compilers of Sthānāṅga- and Samavāyāṅgasūtra had before them was lost and another entirely different text was substituted in its place.
Abhayadevasūri in his commentary on the available version of the Praśnavyākaraṇa clearly states that the text is called so as questions or the vidyās used to ask questions [in divination] after setting [a mirror or medium such as] a thumb and so on are mentioned in it. Abhayadevasūri himself seems aware of the fact that the text he is commenting upon is not the original as he says, `what is suggested from the analysis of the title was the content of the text in earlier times but now only explanations on the five types of sins and five types of their consequences are found in the text.
Now as a sheer surprise, the original Praśnavyākaraṇa together with a Sanskrit commentary has been found preserved in a palm-leaf manuscript in the National Archives of Nepal. As the manuscript is written in Jain Nagari, it is highly probable that it was written in western India but found its way to Nepal when Gujrati merchants travelled or migrated to Kathmandu Valley in mediaeval times. But it is also possible that it was written by a Jain migrant in Kathmandu. There is a paper transcript of this palm-leaf manuscript, which was made at least a half century ago. It is badly rat-eaten in the left-hand side and is of little use except in one place, where two folios of the palm-leaf manuscript are missing but the text on them is found in it albeit with some lacunae.
The text comes together with a Sanskrit commentary by one Jivabhogin, probably a disciple of Devanandin by whose grace, as the commentator says, he was able to compose it. If this Devanandin is the same as the author of the Jainendra-vyākaraṇa, the commentator's time cannot be later than the end of the sixth century.
Manuscript Details
Script Nagari
Material paper
State complete but damaged
Size 27.5 x 12 cm
Folios 73
Lines per Folio 11
Foliation figures in top and bottom margins of the verso
Place of Deposit NAK
Accession No. 5-1462
Used for Edition no
Manuscript Features
This is a transcript of the palm-leaf original filmed under B 23/37. The content of fols. 142 and 143 of the original, which have been lost, is available in this transcript.
Excerpts
Beginning
///8 ddham aruam aṇiṃdiam akidaam aṇavajjam accaaṃ (!) vīraṃ |
ṇavikuṇa sayalatihuaṇamasthaacūḍāmaṇisihatthaṃ
///9 jinavarasya stutyarthe sarvvasyaiva hi śāstrasyādāv ārabhyamāṇasyeṣṭadevatānamaskāraṃ vighnavināsanāya ma///10 kṛtvā tato vīrasya stutiḥ kriyate || siddhiṃ siddhim upāgataṃ nirvāṇam ity arthaḥ | aruaṃ rūparahitam aṇiṃdiaṃ ///9 vidyaṃte so ʼyam aniṃdriyaḥ | iṃdriyarahitas tam anindriyaṃ | akidaaṃ akṛtakaṃ | kaṇṭha(!)rahitam | aṇavajjaṃ anava///9 acyutam | cyavanaṃ cyutir ity arthaḥ | na cyutaṃ | yasmān na bhūyas tasya patanaṃ saṃsāre smin vidyata iti | acyutaṃ tasmā///10 | vīraṃ śreṣṭhaṃ pradhānaṃ jinavaram ity arthaḥ |
ṇavikuṇa sayalatihuaṇamatthaacūḍāmaṇisihatthaṃ | (fols. 1v1–6)
End
kālatrayaṃ(!)vibhāgārtham idaṃ śiṣyahitāya ca |
kṛtā ///6 darśanajyotyāṃ(!)saṃjñitā,
avyaktapadavākyārthavyaktā(!)dāhṛtapasalā (!),
devanandiprasādena kṛteyaṃ jīvabhoginā,
uttaraṃ cāpi yady atra ///6 [ccha]ti,|
tad ihaiva mayā vyaktā likhitā jīvabhoginā,
nāmo (!) jñānātiniṣṭhāya saṃpattye kevalātmane |
pradhānāvyayacaitanyaṃpavibho(!)///6
darśanajyotir iti kimarthan nāma kṛtavān pratyucyate, darśanagrahaṇena śāstram abhisaṃbadhyate | sāstraṃ nāma darśanam ity anarthāntaraṃ ///6 loko dīptis teja ity arthaḥ, tasya darśanasya jñānasya śāstrasya vā jyotiḥ sūkṣmatejo vīrya (!) darśanajyotiḥ, etc. (fol. 69v2-6)
Colophon
[kṛ]tir jīvabhogino dvitīyaṃ cāsya nāma sāradatteti || ||
ṇamo arahaṃtāṇaṃ ṇamo siddhāṇaṃ | ṇamo āiriyāṇaṃ | ṇamo nava - ///7 sarvvasāhūṇaṃ, ṇamo bhagavado mahadi mahāvāra(!)vaḍḍhamāṇabuddassa | ṇamo jiṇeṇaṃ (!)ṇamo paromāvijiṇeṇaṃ (!) ṇamo savvoviji///5 havāyaraṇavijyadevadāe | ṇamo sarassadīe | mama hidayaṃ pavissa vekkhaṃ (!) evissa (!), pucchaassa muhaṃ pavissa, aṃgaevaṃga ///8 vvaṃ mama aisa attaṃ asamaeṇa saccavāiṇī uṃ udara 2 ida maṇijāle suvaṇṇajāle jaassa vijae mauravāhiṇī svāhā || ///8 m upavāsaṃ kṛtvā paurṇṇamāsyāṃ puṣyayogeṇa samadhāti(!)kṛṣarapāyasacaruṃ nivedyam, anyarcā (!) āhuḥ, mayūravāhi[nīsa]rasvatyādisa///8 bhyarcya tato ’ṣṭasahasraṃ japet, siddho bhavati, svapnaṃ darśayati, prabhāte pūjāṃ kṛtvā yathāśaktitaḥ | tataḥ ādeśaḥ karttavyaḥ || || namo bhagavadī/// 6 [vi]dyāe aṇṇdāe pāṇadāe giri 2 ru 2 mayūravāhinī svāhā, aṣṭasahaśriko jāpaḥ || a 1, ka 41, ca 6, ṭa 12, ta 24, pa 36, ///6 [ṅa]ñaṇanama, 96, āiueoaṃ 90, akavarasaṃkhā, praśnajāṇāhi, ūkāra, uttara trisaṃkha, 3, ṇakāra uttarasaṃkhā || 5 || || śubham (fol. 70r8-v4)
Microfilm Details
Reel No. B 466/20
Date of Filming 03-10-1982
Exposures 75
Used Copy Kathmandu
Type of Film positive
Catalogued by DA
Date 30-10-2005
Bibliography Diwakar Acharya: The Original Paṇhavāyaraṇa / Praśnavyākaraṇa Discovered. (International Journal of Jaina Studies Vol. 3, No. 6 (2007) 1-10).
